Healing Our Waters Coalition » Great Lakes Conference

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin on Great Lakes Week: ‘lakes are central to our economy’

Jordan Lubetkin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:46:39 +0000

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is weighing in on the Great Lakes Week in Detroit:

“I am delighted that so many people are in Detroit this week to celebrate the Great Lakes and work to protect them. The lakes are central to our economy, our history, our culture, and our future. Millions of people depend on these lakes for their drinking water, transportation, trade, employment and recreation. We need to ensure that our best efforts and most innovative solutions focus on the restoration and protection of these jewels.”

Public TV in 20 Markets to Cover Great Lakes Week

Jordan Lubetkin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:45:35 +0000

Great Lakes Week coverage is spreading across North America, as Detroit Public Television announced 20 media markets signing up to carry coverage of the week’s proceedings—including the 7th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference presented by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. Participating outlets include:

New York – WNET-TV
Chicago – WTTW-TV
HoustonPBS
Phoenix – KAET-TV
Twin Cities Public Television
Lakeland Public Television (Minnesota)
Pioneer Public Television (Minnesota)
Miami – WPBT-TV
Cleveland – WVIZ-TV

St. Louis – KETC-TV
Indianapolis – WFYI-TV
Milwaukee – WMVT/WMVS-TV
Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo – WGVK/WGVU-TV
Central Michigan University Public Television
Toledo – WGTE-TV
Rochester, New York – WXXI-TV
Illinois Public Media
Penn State Public Broadcasting
Lansing, Michigan – WKAR-TV
Prairie Public Television (North Dakota)
Duluth, Minnesota – WDSE/KRPT-TV
Rochester, Minnesota – KSMQ-TV
Windsor, Ontario – CTV

Great Lakes Now streamed content will be available to viewers everywhere starting on October 11, at www.greatlakesnow.org. There’s still time for news outlets and other websites to stream coverage. Contact Matt Friedman at mfriedman@tannerfriedman.com if you’re interested.

You can also follow proceedings of the 7th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference on this site. We’ll be offering live streaming, as well as photos, video and updates throughout the week.

Detroit Proving to be a Leader in Great Lakes Restoration

Jeff Alexander — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:35:27 +0000

The Detroit River and Detroit's skyline (Photo by Detroit Riverkeeper Robert Burns)

Detroit is the place to be this week, and not just because the Detroit Tigers are battling for a spot in the World Series and the Red Wings are hosting their first home game of the season. The first ever Great Lakes Week is also taking place this week in the Motor City.

It is fitting that this monumental event — which will feature the annual meetings of several Great Lakes organizations, including the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition’s 7th annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference — is taking place in Detroit.

The city best known for churning out cars and rock stars is gaining a reputation as a national leader in ecosystem restoration. We’re highlighting a few of Detroit’s Great Lakes restoration success stories on our site.
In the coming months, the coalition will release a larger report about Great Lakes restoration projects that are improving the lives of Detroit residents and bolstering efforts to revitalize the city’s economy.

Detroit’s budding environmental renaissance is proof that federal environmental programs — such as the Great Lakes Legacy Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — deliver results and can bring about profound changes in distressed communities.

We’ve been following the effort to restore the Great Lakes and have been chronicling successful restoration projects from across the region.

You can read about them here.

Or, contact us if you have a restoration story you’d like to share.

Connect Online to Restore the Great Lakes

janssenj — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:09:30 +0000

The Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Restoration Coalition’s 7^th Annual Conference happening October 12-14 in Detroit is going global.

You can participate in the conference online, whether attending in person or tuning in from across the country.

For the first time, the Great Lakes Restoration Conference proceedings will be live streamed and accessible online at conference.healthylakes.org and GreatLakesNow.org thanks to a new partnership with organizations including Detroit Public Television.

By visiting the conference website, you can watch keynote addresses and certain sessions online as they happen; access interviews and taped sessions; take a look at presentation materials; and read about the discussions and outcomes of sessions thanks to live blogging.

Connect with us online today:

Tune into live streams and live blogs at conference.healthylakes.org
Like our Healing Our Waters Facebook page
Follow @healthylakes on Twitter
View and share presentations on SlideSharefrom the conference
Subscribe to healingourwaters YouTube videos

Join in and share your thoughts, learn what Great Lake advocates are saying, and take action to restore the Great Lakes–whether you are at the Conference in Detroit in person or on the other side of the country.

Hot off the Press: 2011 Great Lakes Conference Program

Jordan Lubetkin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:28:34 +0000

The 2011 Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Conference is right around the corner. Check out the final conference booklet. Even if you cannot join us in Detroit, Oct. 12-14, you can still participate by joining us on your favorite social media network and following the conference proceedings at healthylakes.org, where you’ll find live-streaming of sessions, photos, video, and other resources.

Calling All Media: We Want You to Participate in Great Lakes Week!

Jordan Lubetkin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:47:03 +0000

Next week, from October 11-14, citizens, activists, agencies and elected officials will gather in Detroit, Mich., to discuss the future of the Great Lakes as part of Great Lakes Week. We’re asking media to participate in this unprecedented event. There are many ways to do so:

live stream the event on your Web site
carry a live re-cap of the day’s proceedings via satellite link
use content from the day’s proceedings

Read an overview of public television coverage and participation opportunities.

Check out a Read a press release announcing opportunities to participate in Great Lakes week.

See the full menu of options Detroit Public Television is offering to regional media here.

DPTV has also established a FTP site that contains webstream embed code information, details on satellite coordinates, promos and graphics. To access that information, please use the following link: http://bit.ly/GreatLakesNOW

By covering Great Lakes Week, media outlets can play a huge role in reminding people about how important the Great Lakes are, the threats they face, and the solutions that will help nurse them back to health.

For more information on how your newspaper, television station, radio station or online blog or Web site can participate in Great Lakes week, contact Jordan Lubetkin of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition at Lubetkin@nwf.org or Matt Friedman at Detroit Public Television at mfriedman@tannerfriedman.com

Detroit Public TV to Offer Unprecedented Access to Great Lakes Week

Jordan Lubetkin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:04:17 +0000

As we approach 2011 Great Lakes Week, Detroit Public Television is offering unprecedented opportunities for media and other organizations to follow the week’s proceedings – including the 7th Annual Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Conference. With live streaming and daily recaps of the day’s events, the station’s commitment to the Great Lakes will help people in Michigan and around the region stay abreast of important issues. Read more in the following news release.

You can also read this story in Detroit Crain’s Business.

Nominate Someone for a Great Laker Award Today!

Jordan Lubetkin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:18:22 +0000

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is accepting nominations for its annual Great Laker Awards until Wednesday, July 27. The coalition announces award winners in the fall at its annual conference.
This year, the conference is in Detroit, Mich., October 12-14.

Please consider making a nomination to honor those who have demonstrated their passion for restoring and protecting the Great Lakes.

Nominations may be made in the following categories: Citizens, Public Official, Media, Business, and Lifetime Achievement.

Nominate someone by filling out our nomination form today. It’s quick and easy.

Wanted: Compelling Great Lakes Restoration Presentations for 2011 Conference

Jordan Lubetkin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:21:16 +0000

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is issuing a “request for presentations” from people who would like to lead a workshop session at the coalition’s 7th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference.

This year’s conference takes place October 12-14, 2011, at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit, Mich.

Applications are due May 1, 2011.

Read the request for applications and send in a proposal—and we’ll see you in Detroit.

Great Lakes Restoration Conference Re-Cap

Jordan Lubetkin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:33:24 +0000

The recently concluded Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition’s annual conference in Buffalo, N.Y., was a huge success. The conference—which has become the focal point for all of the organizing and advocacy work at the federal and state level to protect and restore the Lakes—generated record attendance (nearly 300 people), an ever-increasing diversity of participants, and a palpable sense of excitement, energy, and passion.

Of utmost importance is the support we received from the many organizations, agencies, foundations, and firms that so generously sponsored the conference. Our sponsors are the lifeblood of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Restoration conference and we extend our deepest gratitude for everything they do to ensure the success of the event.

To all our partners—a big “Thank you.”

For those who could not attend (or those who did), you can view the presentations from the conference by following the links below.

We hope to see you all next year, when the 7th annual Great Lakes restoration conference heads to Detroit, Mich.

Thank you to our supporters:

FUNDERS
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation
Great Lakes Fishery Trust
The Joyce Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
Peter Wege and The Wege Foundation

CHAMPIONS
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Ecology and Environment, Inc.
National Parks Conservation Association
National Wildlife Federation

BENEFACTORS
Biohabitats, Inc
Ducks Unlimited
Canadian Consulate General of Canada, New York
CH2M HILL
Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo
Great Lakes United
New York Power Authority

PATRON
The Adam’s Mark Hotel
Audubon New York
Biodiversity Project
Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc
Environmental Quality Agreement
Erie County Environmental Education Institute
Freshwater Future
John G. Shedd Aquarium

FRIEND
American Custodial
AECOM
American Rivers
Blue Water Satellite
Citizens Campaign for the Environment
EA Engineering
Environment America
Environmental Advocates of New York
Environmental Finance Center
Erie County,
Department of Environment & Planning
Gulf of Maine Council
Institute for Conservation Leadership
JF New
Michigan United Conservation Clubs
Ohio Environmental Council
River Network
Sierra Club, Great Lakes Office
The Nature Conservancy
USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Services

SUPPORTER
Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPERS
Enviroscapes Design
Georgian Bay Forever
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
Izaak Walton League
Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Trout Unlimited, Midwest Office
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council
UB Green

Speaker presentations are available below:

Thursday, September 23, 2010
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Opening Remarks and Welcome to Buffalo
• Lake Erie/Lake Ontario Overview: David Klein, Central and Western New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy

9:00 – 9:30 a.m. Keynote
• Cameron Davis, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

9:30 – 11:00 a.m. Plenary Session
Demonstrating Restoration Success through an Environmental and Economic Lens
• Paul Isely, Chair, Economics, Grand Valley State University
• Julie Barrett O’Neill, Executive Director, Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER
• Todd Ambs, President, River Network

11:00 – 12:30 p.m.
Track One
Securing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Funds for your Restoration Project
• Todd Hogrefe, Assistant Director, Central Partnership Office, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• Mike Russ, Program Planning and Budget Team Leader, Great Lakes National Program Office, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
• Doug Gorby, Regional Biologist for New York, Ducks Unlimited

Track Two
Ensuring Sustainable Restoration Efforts by Enforcing Environmental Laws
• Thom Cmar, Staff Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Plenary Session
Great Lakes, Great Waters: How the Great Lakes can Benefit from Other Major Ecosystem Restoration Efforts
• Moderator: Malia Hale, Director of National Restoration and Water Resources Campaigns, National Wildlife Federation
• Doug Meyers, Director of Science & Habitat Restoration, People for Puget Sound
• Kahlil Kettering, Biscayne Restoration Program Analyst, National Parks Conservation Association
• Natalie Snider, Science Director, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
• Peter Alexander, Director, Northeast Great Waters Coalition

Friday, September 24, 2010

8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Plenary Session
HOW Coalition 2011 State Strategies: Reports from the Annual Coalition Meeting
• Moderator: Jennifer Hill, Field Director, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

9:00 – 11:15 a.m. Track One
Tips from the Trenches: Administering Federal Grants under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
• Mike Russ, Program Planning and Budget Team Leader, Great Lakes National Program Office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Jill Spisiak Jedlicka, Director of Ecological Programs & Buffalo River RAP Coordinator, Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper
• Melinda Koslow, Safeguards Program Regional Campaign Manager, National Wildlife Federation

9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Track Two
Making the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Work in the States: Update on State Restoration Implementation Policy Work
• Gildo Tori, Director of Public Policy, Great Lakes and Atlantic Region, Ducks Unlimited

11:15 – 12:15 p.m. Plenary Session
How does the Asian Carp Crisis Reshuffle the Invasive Species Deck?
• Tim Eder, Executive Director, Great Lakes Commission
• Captain Lorne Thomas, Ninth Coast Guard District, United States Coast Guard
• Jen Nalbone, Director, Navigation and Invasive Species, Great Lakes United

1:15 – 2:50 p.m. Plenary Session
Great Lakes Issue Updates
• St. Clair River – Michigan-Huron Lake Level Study
• Status of Communication Initiatives in the Great Lakes
• Speaker: Rebecca Dill, Manager of Programs, Biodiversity Project